Arts & Culture

Metropolitan School of the Arts (MSA) Performing Arts Academy of Alexandria, Va., is hosting its Anniversary Annual Showcase, 10Plus 1, an innovative choreography of MSA students in tap, jazz, contemporary and hip-hop on Sun., Apr. 15 at 5 p.m. at the Ernst Community Cultural Center in Alexandria, Va. Tickets are $20 per person. Go to www.metropolitanarts.org to purchase.

This is MSA’s 11th Annual Showcase of its pre-professional dance company, Metropolitan Youth Tap Ensemble, and 10th year with iMPULSE. Choreography is led by guest professionals like Ginger Cox, Parker Esse, Jared Jenkins and Charles Renato.

“Our annual showcase is the MSA event of the year, where we highlight the best of the best in our dance programs,” said Melissa Dobbs, executive director and founder of Metropolitan School of the Arts of Alexandria, Va.

Metropolitan School of the Arts (MSA) Performing Arts Academy of Alexandria, Va., is hosting its open house on Fri., Jan. 26 from 9 AM to 12:30 PM with an opportunity to meet and greet with MSA staff as well as refreshments. The open house is located at 5775 Barclay Road, Suite 4, in Alexandria, Va. Go to www.metropolitanarts.org.

“Our open houses are an excellent opportunity to meet MSA families, students, faculty and staff, tour our facility, and experience first-hand what an Academy arts education entails,” said Melissa Dobbs, executive director and founder of Metropolitan School of the Arts of Alexandria, Va.

Cook in Mexico, a Mexican culinary tour was named winner of the 2017 Magellan Gold Award for Best in Mexico for Destinations--Culture and Arts by Travel Weekly, a premiere travel magazine. Haymarket, Va.-based owners George and Linda Meyers host their worldwide guests on cooking tours in authentic Mexican kitchens, and guide guests on personalized Mexican historic tours and dance to Mariachi and climb the ruins of Cañada de la Virgin. You can watch their travel adventures on social media at Cook Eat Play Travel or www.cookeatplaytravel.com. For more information, go to www.cookinmexico.kitchen.

The Magellan Awards is the premier award for the travel industry, which honors the best in travel and is judged by a 14-member panel. The Travel Weekly Magellan Awards honor the best in travel.

BASIS Independent McLean (BIM) debuted its new mascot as the Red-Tailed Hawk. Staff and students voted on five mascot candidates and the winning selection was the Red-Tailed Hawks. Two BIM students helped create the draft design for the Red-Tailed Hawks for their communication journal: Kelley Wang, an 11th grader representing upper school, and Grace Araya, a 4th grader representing the lower school. For more information on the school go to http://mclean.basisindependent.com or call 703.854.1253.

Metropolitan School of the Arts (MSA) Academy of Alexandria Va. will perform its Company Project - Evolution: Past, Present, Future on Sun., Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Va. 200 S. Carlin Springs Rd. The show highlights MSA’s most talented and most dedicated performers. The Company Project is a chance for MSA’s pre-professional companies to perform in a high caliber show, which pushes students’ boundaries artistically, physically, and mentally. This year, The Company Project - Evolution will delve into the world of dance from past, present and future. Tickets are $15 per person. Go to www.metropolitanarts.org for more information.

Metropolitan School of the Arts (MSA) Academy of Alexandria Va. congratulates its student Elpida Voryas, 16, of Alexandria, Va. on her acceptance to the pre-professional Houston Ballet Academy program this fall. Go to www.metropolitanarts.org for more information.

Voryas has been taking jazz, ballet, modern and contemporary dance for 12 years, but became more committed to ballet at age 8, when she started MSA’s conservatory Royal Academy of Dance. After graduating from that program with distinction, she was invited to train with the prestigious Royal Ballet School Summer program in London in 2017, where she was among 125 female and male dancers who were picked from 2,700 applicants from around the world.

Metropolitan School of the Arts (MSA) of Alexandria Va. welcomes eight new faculty members to its tap, jazz, hip hop and ballet departments, from various parts of the United States and beyond, including Roger C. Jeffrey, a NYC native and The Juilliard School graduate, specializing in ballet, Quynn Johnson, a Howard University graduate and student of tap and West African dance, and Guiliano Antonio, a Brazilian tap artist, who has taught at several tap festivals in Argentina, Brazil and the United States. Go to www.metropolitanarts.org for more information on their staff.